My current project - Custom

Started my custom bike project a couple of months ago - not sure if it appeals to anyone on here. If not, I'll apologise in advance. And I'll apologise for the text on the pics, I have changed where I am hosting my pics now...

Basic idea is a pretty understated bike, mostly black with the odd chrome highlight. Street rod style - low and short.

38 deg rake with 4" overs
240 rear, 130 front tyres on 18" rims
Solid mount softail frame
6 speed LSD
3.25" open primary
127ci Ultima black gem engine - 140bhp, 145lbft at the rear wheel
Drag style bars
Going to be doing a lot of the fabrication myself, other than the frame which I will be leaving to the experts!

Whilst having fun on the dyno with my car, my bike engine and gearbox arrived.

A big @rse engine!


When I say big, I mean huge....all 2096cc of it



Looks to be nicely made and finished. The black nickel plating is nice and thick so should be durable.

The smaller box contained the 6 speed gearbox.



Which again appears to be well made and finished.

Picked up my frame from Briz @CCD, very impressed with it indeed. Beautifully made

Got it back and made a start on putting a few bits together. Some swearing and head scratching, but getting there slowly. Hoping to get it all mocked up over the next few of months before stripping it all down again for paint.

The bare frame:



Removed the swing arm so I could fit the belt. The refitted it with a rear shocks losely fitted and adjusted to around halfway for ride height, turns out they need to be set a little higher to bring the frame level.




I know I am going to have to take them back out to fit the gearbox, but I wanted to get it together to see what it would look like.

I then set about fitting the front end. I need to order some dust shields and some internal fork stops.

The biggest problem was getting the top nuts/stops off the shocks so I could fit the flush ones as my yokes have hidden top nuts. Took quite a lot of swearing and a few bashes with a large hammer to get them undone, quite why anyone decided they needed to be that tight I will never know. Got there in the end though, and it went together quite nicely. Everything seems to line up.

Forks are 4" over stock.




Then I refitted the rear wheel and its all coming together.



Getting a good idea now of what its going to end up looking like.

Need to decide on a tank type/style. The top tube is about 20" long, so I am on the look out for something close to that to get me started.

Made the mock up front wheel spacers, just need to get some stainless bar in to make some proper ones now.

Trial fitted the rear brake caliper, not sure how I am going to hide the hydraulic line to it, but I'll figure something out...


Dropped gearbox into the frame. Need to trim the left side studs down a little so they dont hit the shock, the other 3 all clear OK. Need a .5mm shim under the 5th stud


Heaved the engine in too and everything seems to line up pretty well.





I struggled for a while to fit the primary backplate, then realised the belt seems a little tight. So I have ordered a 135T belt to pick up tomorrow.

Started on modifying the rear fender. I picked it up on ebay pretty cheap. Very solidly built, could probably support 2 people as pillion...

I was originally going to fit a hard tail type fender to the swing arm so it followed the tyre as I am not a fan of having a huge gap between the tyre and fender. But I decided to give it a go with a normal softail style fender and see how tidy I can make it.

It was way too wide where it attaches to the frame (around 1" too wide) and sat way too high on initial fitment. Wheel is chocked to the target ride height in these pics.




Doesn't follow the wheel at all and it just looked wrong.

So I cut off the mounting brackets with the plasma cutter, and trimmed the edges up with the angry grinder and soft pad.

Layed a couple of pieces of pipe on the rear wheel and chocked it up to the suspension bump stops. Layed the fender on and then tacked the mounting brackets back on so the holes lined up.





Sits a lot better now with the wheel back at normal ride height.



I hope you would agree its a damn sight better than how it started...

I welded it all back together and trimmed it up so it was presentable again. Then decided to have a go at trimming the sides down a little so the radius matched the rim at ride height. Still needs a little smoothing off and the bottom edge radiusing and blending into the rear edge.

The wheels going to come back around 1/2" yet when the belts tensioned up. I have decided to keep it at this length as its going to make a few things a little easier to do further down the road...





A shot of the fender bracket


Then moved on to a test fitting the primary drive. All went together relatively smoothly, other than having to pull the backplate off again to insert another spacer behind the alternator rotor to bring the pulleys into alignment.




And this is how it sits currently. Still an awful lot to do, but its nice to see progress. Pretty pleased with the overall look at the moment.




Finished fabricating the top mount - ready for paint when the time comes now.




Swapped the transmission end cover from the standard cable one to the hydraulic one I got from the US.

Standard cover:


Nice and clean and tidy in there:


New cover fitted:


Not sure how I am going to get the hydraulic line to it yet, but I am sure I'll figure something out, sure it will be easier to hide than a normal cable.

The front brake calipers arrived just before Xmas as well, just need some bolts to fit them, along with some front brake discs now. Once they are bolted up I will make up the front brake lines. I am going to fit dual front discs, so have a left and right hand caliper. Both are wilwood GP310's powdercoated in black.


Been finishing off the designs for the forwards too, printed them out 1:1 and stuck them on the frame, the angles can be tweaked once I have some physical bits. Will end up with all the plates laser cut. Everything that pivots sits on 2 sealed ball bearings, so they should be maintenance free. Everything is steel.




Will finish the DXF's soon ready for laser cutting.

And thats as far as I have got so far - just need a tank and a couple of bits to arrive from the US so I can get the oil tank and bars made along with all the other bits...

cool mate -keep us updated, been thinking of a sv engine based similar type thing

man on a mission
good job mate

me like !

Looking good, will be wating for updates

[yorkie_chris]

Hmmm. How much was the gearbox?

Thanks will keep this up to date with progress, which is a little slow ATM due to lack of funds.

Originally Posted by yorkie_chris

Hmmm. How much was the gearbox?

Everything is new. Gearbox including import duty was around £700.

[andrewsmith]

Absolutely cracking build!

looking good, but when do the new leathers turn up then?

[TamSV]

Bloody hell mate. No wonder you've run out of funds .

Loving it so far. I really like big custom bikes - there, I said it.